


Nothing Left

by Iamsuperconfused



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Break Up, Cadmus are evil, F/F, F/M, Kara Danvers is passionate about Alien rights, Kara slowly gaining confidence, Project Cadmus, Sanvers not endgame, Strong Angst, angsty as fuck, badass!winn, minor fluff set up for maximum angst, supercorp not endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:50:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11501178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamsuperconfused/pseuds/Iamsuperconfused
Summary: This is set after the finale of Season 2 and Aknowledges nothing I found about the upcoming season 3 (Not out of spite, but because I want to write my own ideas).Cadmus has made a move against the Superfriend using Maggie's past in Gotham (which I plucked from comic books and wiki articles and my own imagination). And she has to rush back there to prevent a crucial part of herself from being lost forever at the painful cost of her relationship with Alex.There is an actual plan here people! Chapter 4 and 5 outlined!Author's Note: I tagged it Underage because it features a 10 year old girl being kidnapped. (Only in mention so far)Chapter 1: Sanvers (Maggie and Alex)Chapter 2: Kara Interviews LenaChapter 3: Kara meets with Alex, Maggie and J'onnChapter 4: Kara reconcile with Lena, Finishes her article and has a verbal bout with the President.





	1. A dream shatters

**Author's Note:**

> I adore Supercorp and Sanvers, they are fantastic ships that I genuinely hope are endgames. BUT sometimes, you gotta kill your darlings (the ships, not the characters) and see what you can do with the pieces. This will be angsty for a few chapters and then will explore different events and relationships. (I have an endgoal, but, I want to avoid spoilers)
> 
> Supercorp is not actually in play in this fic at all, but I will allude to it a few times. 
> 
> James Sawyer is Maggie's Ex-Husband (Stubborn, Police of Gotham, Lightly Homophobic)  
> Jamie Sawyer is Maggie's Daughter from the comics. 10 years old.

One month ago, there were spaceships over National City: the Daxamite invasion force had came in out of nowhere to take Earth as their new planet. Maggie still had nightmares about the sheer scope of what had transpired these nights one month ago. However, among a sea of horrific thoughts about an almost apocalypse, a shining beacon of hope glowed in the detective’s mind: Alex’s proposal. Alex’s rushed, panicked, heat-of-the-moment proposal. Maggie had said yes, of course, she was crazy about this woman, but as the dust settled, she realized this proposal had cracks and for a while, there were worries gnawing at the back of her mind. 

Alex had, of course, sensed that from Maggie and had taken a few steps that made a good show to soothe her girlfriend’s fears and worries: Getting her a beautiful, if simple white gold ring, deciding to move in together, in the very near future, in Alex’s apartment for starter and finally, both of them agreeing in full that, the wedding needed to be way off in the distant future of ‘not right now’. Those worries out of the way, Maggie’s train of thoughts slowly turned more positive about the whole thing. These thoughts settled on things left unsaid to Alex, things she forgot about, things she could not say, things she would need to know now, if they were to be married. Namely that Sawyer wasn’t her maiden’s name and that she had a daughter.

Maggie didn’t think to explain that, in her past, she was married once, to a man. It seemed a bit too much to explain to someone who just found out about being gay, that sometimes, you experiment and you explore before being sure. Like any scientific experiments, there are sometimes results of these experiments. Keeping the wedding a secret had been mostly forgetting about it, but keeping the daughter that was born from the marriage a secret? That was pain and fear on Maggie’s part and she knew it. The pains of the separation, of the divorce and the lost custody battle too much for a new, budding relationship. But on the tail end of Alex discovering what had happened with Emily and her and the following discussion between them? After the dust from an Alien invasion had settled? Now seemed like the perfect moment to reveal this part of herself to Alex. 

So Maggie spent today off of work, calling her ex-husband, trying to mend fences and making a little headway but they got divorced over so much more than her being gay that it seems very little to Maggie. However getting news from her daughter and how she was doing in school? That made her spend a little time crying after the phone call. Trying to get the divorce finalized, at last as the break up was _that bad_. Then it was planning a trip to her old haunt of Gotham to finally deal with that permanently. When her stomach growled and protested violently from her lack of eating around dinner time, she picked up her phone and sent a text to Alex. 

M: Hey Alex, I need to talk to you about a lot of things. You okay with tonight? It’s hopefully good stuff.  
A: I hope. Today sucked really bad for me.  
M: What happened?  
A: Got suspended from work.  
M: Disobeying presidential orders worked out well.  
A: I could’ve gone to jail for that. I got lucky, plus never say that in front of him, but Winn pretty much beat me in the Badass department today. Because of him It’s only a long suspension. I’ll tell you when you’re here, if you wanna hear about it.  
M: I’m on my way, had the day off. Had a WHOLE lot of adulting to do today.  
A: Ok, waiting for you. ♥

As soon as the texting stops, Maggie gets butterflies, her heart sinks when she realizes that maybe, just maybe, Alex won’t be as understanding this time. But then she remembers that night after Emily was gone, when Alex had surprised her. She had to trust the woman she was going to marry damnit and she would. She stood from the couch, ignoring the ominous fear and weight in her chest, in hear heart and walked out of her apartment, heading toward Alex’s. She was walking tonight, listening to her steps rythmically drumming on the pavement, avoiding the worst of the Invasion’s damages by taking little streets and shortcuts she had grown accustomed to. Maggie found the walk soothing, calming, her worries melting at the familarity of the path to her fiancée's home 

//

Today had sucked for Alex, the dust had settled on the Invasion at the D.E.O. as well and the praise and the blame all was being handed out. And she got a truck load of the blame: Disobeying presidential orders, costing the planet a crucial weapon against potential invaders, allowing non D.E.O. personnel to follow on this important mission and the list went on, including a few stint of her going into cells and beating prisoners. By the end of the list, President Marsdin was pretty sure she would’ve gotten punched in the throat for a few of the items in the list and, if it wasn’t for J’onn intervening, if it wasn’t for the brutally obvious discontent of Agent Schott about some of the items on the list, Alex might have been escorted to jail for a long time. 

“With all due respect, Madam President. Alex is an examplary agent and your accusation only bears weight if you completely ignore the circumstances in which the orders and events occured. You say that you demanded of her she destroy the invasion, but all you really were saying was ‘destroy just one ship’ with an weapon that was not field-tested and with the Planet’s champion on it.” The glare that Marsdin had given J’onn when he spoke these words was epic, but he clearly did not care. Then, to Alex’s surprise, Winn came forward with more. 

“Again, with all due respect, Madam President. It wouldn’t have ended the invasion, it would probably just have destroyed the main ship, what information or data did you have that made you so certain the rest of the fleet would leave after that?” 

The president interrupted Winn at this moment “And your plan to challenge their leader in a fistfight worked ?” It was Winn’s turn to glare at the screen and quite frankly, if Winn ever got really angry? this could be scary. J’onn peeked in Winn’s mind and his eyes went wide, so did Alex’s 

“No, that didn’t work, but it calmed the general population, it gave them hope and something to hope for and time to look for shelter and safe space and when it didn’t work? We had a backup plan in case that happened and that worked. What was your back up plan madam President? Fly Air force one at the enemy ship and make threats you have no way of backing up?” Even J’onn seemed a little bit...uncomfortable with how angry Winn was right now. 

“Oh wait, you did that and it made everything worse! You accuse Alex of compromising planetary security, but you’re the one who provoked the enemy into assaulting you and we had to tip our hand to save you, you accuse Alex of refusing to obey an order, but you gave them while you were every bit as panicked as everyone in the street and you accuse Alex of bringing non D.E.O. personnel and you had a freaking Media queen on board of Air Force One and giving her access to secret intel the media shouldn’t have their hands on, so who really compromised Planetary security here?!” he took a deep breath and glared at the screen too.

President Marsdin glared through the screen at Winn, taking a deep breath and calming herself obvious angered by Winn’s outburst but she does take a moment to reconsider, the silence weighting heavy on everyone in the small office. “I understand that I had my failings during the invasion, as much as I am loathe to admit it, maybe my initial reaction was not the best course of action I could’ve taken.” She concede “In light of your information, Agent Schott, Director Henshaw... I will rectify my recommendation for the situation. Agent Danvers is to be suspended for six month and evaluations about being fit for service should be made once she is allowed to return to service.” 

Alex winces, because if this was what Marsdin ‘lighter’ decision was? She was just going to be sent to jail at first and she knew that. She knew that was a possibility when she disobeyed the President, the suspension was hurting Alex and J’onn could feel that already. But she swallowed hard and nodded to the President’s words. 

“I will see that this is carried out Madam President.” J’onn said to her with a polite reply, the call ended shortly thereafter. Alex cleared her throat and gave J’onn her badge and her gun. “I’m sorry Alex I couldn’t do more.” 

“J’onn, she was going to send me to jail.” she cut him off and gave him a hug, a rub on his back and cleared her throat and discreetly wiped her eyes on her sleeve and sniffling a little bit. “Just... do expect my sister to be a little upset over this.” J’onn nodded “I think Kara’s getting better a little so it should go a little better than my last attempt to get her to talk to me.” the three in the room chuckled fondly at the memory of Kara just walking out of the D.E.O. quiet like and then returning to grab her cellphone she had forgotten not a second later. 

“Agent Schott? Escort her outside of the premises and see to it that she reach her destination safely.” Winn gave a firm nod to J’onn and just walked out, Alex following him out as he walked through the halls of the D.E.O. heading toward the locker room first, where they grabbed her personal effects, where Winn verified that there was no equipment from the D.E.O. left in her bags. Both of them completely silent during that time, it sucked for the both of them, but they both knew this bit of protocol should be followed. 

It’s when they’re both outside of the D.E.O that the silence breaks and of course, it’s Alex who broke it up first. “Thank you Winn.” Alex stopped at the nearby bus stop, turning around to give him a long, hard hug. “Thank you. I know this wasn’t easy for you, I know you hate confrontation, that was very brave of you.” Alex said, a bit of a tremble in her voice and her eyes shining with tears. Winn didn’t talk, but he returned the hug and there were tears in his eyes too. He did try to talk but it wouldn’t come out at all, so they walked together back to Alex’s apartment in silence, occasionally bumping shoulders into each others. Maggie’s texts made their ways by the time Alex was alone at her place and Winn was heading back to the D.E.O. 

 

//

Maggie finally arrives at Alex’s place, knocking on the door before coming in, just to warn her lover she would be there. She finds Alex sitting at her counter with a beer, in jeans and t-shirt, reading a CatCo magazine from a few months back with a rather heavy look. She turns around when Maggie knocks and smiles at her, setting down the magazine and the beer down, standing to greet Maggie, opening her arms for a hug. 

The hug is warm, soft and gentle, no whispers, explanation, both of them shed a tear over their day, exhaustion and frustration makes this moment so much sweeter for them both. After several minutes of them just holding to each others, they move over to the couch and Alex rests her head on Maggie’s shoulder and remain silent for a while, staring at the bed nearby in quiet contemplation. 

“So do you want to talk about your day Danvers?” She asked, gently, because she cared yes, but also because it was a convenient way to push back her own talk, a mixture of relief and dread comes when Alex shakes her head and quietly replies. 

“I need to hear the good stuff Maggie, so, let me listen to you first, okay?” Alex clung a bit tightly to Maggie’s arm, holding it close and waiting for her girl to talk, letting her voice fill her mind and trying not to think much about what transpired for her today. 

Maggie took a deep breath, trying to calm the rush of butterflies in her stomach, she kiss the top of Alex’s head and clears her throat nervously before starting to talk. “Remember what you told me after Emily ?” Alex nodded “I have a few things I...need to tell you, if we’re going to spend time together as eventual wives.” 

That got Alex’s attention and she sat up from her cuddling position, curiosity in her eyes, a tiny smile at her lips, she waited for Maggie to tell her. Eager to learn more about her Fiancée, eager for Maggie to give more of herself over. She listened. 

“So, I kept a few things from you... some because... I honestly forgot about them and it just never came up, until now.” she clears her throat “My Maiden name isn’t Sawyer, I was married about ten years ago and the break up was so bad I’m finalizing the divorce next week” Alex let out a surprised little gasp, but her smile grew as did her confusion, which Maggie detected immediately. “I didn’t mention this, partly because you didn’t need the confusion and partly because It was a painful moment I didn’t want to dredge up. I wasn’t always so sure I was a lesbian, Danvers so I experimented.It ended very badly.” 

“It’s okay, thank you for letting me in on that, It’s a surprise, but I understand.” she smiles, softly, caressing Maggie’s cheek, but her finger can feel the little tension in Maggie’s body, her Maggie’s smile and there’s more to this, she knows for sure. Lucky for them both, Alex had already pieced a bit of that together. 

“Sometimes, when you do experimentation there are...results, some disastrous and some ... important.” Maggie lips tremble with emotions, with fears. “I didn’t tell you about this because it was... really scary, really painful and I didn’t...want to risk anything happening to either side of this.” Another pause. “I had a daughter, from this Marriage. I don’t have custody, I don’t have visitation rights, I can call her on her birthdays and he can spin whatever story he wants about the wicked witch that broke his heart.” Maggie was bitter when she said that. 

“I had an idea about that one, to be honest.” Alex said softly, Maggie’s confusion is quite obvious and immediate, which Alex reassure her with a simple explanation. “Childbirth leaves marks, I’m pretty good at biology and I’ve studied this particular field with ...very keen interest.” both of them laugh a bit, both of them blushes. “I figured you didn’t tell me because of something like that. Thank you for trusting me with that, I understand how precious that is.”

And then, in the heart of their home, in the heart of their relationship a bombs drop. Maggie’s cellphone rings and lights up with notification about missed text messages, all at once. Maggie looks at the number and she seems a little surprised. “That’s my ex-husband.” she stand up and take the call, starting to pace, starting to panic inwardly. “James?”  
“Maggie, Maggie!?” The man’s voice is panicked, livid and he practically screams. “What do you know about something called Cadmus?! I need everything you can tell me! NOW!” Maggie seems stunned and speaks into the phone. “Terrorist organisation led by Lillian Luthor, has an anti alien agenda, attempted to kidnap and deport aliens illegally and en masse, used a bio-weapon to murder several and were planning on far more nefarious ends? Wh-why do you ask !?” 

Alex stands up as she hears the conversation and she seems worried, very worried, very upset, but she remain quiet, as there is absolutely nothing she can do right now except maybe call Winn or J’onn. She picks her phone up only to get it slapped out of her hand by a panicking Maggie, Alex seems a little stunned at that

“Then why the hell do they want with **my** daughter? Why did they kidnap her? Why do they know YOU!?” Maggie has tears in her eyes, her heart is beating in her temple and her world is shaking itself apart right at the rhythm of her own heart. “I don’t know what happened, just tell me what happened!” Maggie almost begged the man on the phone, he calms down and takes long moments to calm himself. “Jamie didn’t come back from school today and I got a call with a scrambled voice, the person asked me about you, about an Agent Danvers and just let me know they disapproved. Told me Jamie was doing fine for now.” 

It hits Maggie like a ton of brick, her mind put together the pieces of her misery, painting a painful picture of her life. The D.E.O. is obvious compromised, Supergirl and Alex are both going to tip off Cadmus since they’re affiliated with the D.E.O., J’onn’s out, Winn’s out, James’ out, Lena is definitely out, no one to help her out of this situation without risking the life of her daughter. Her heart breaks, a panic sets in her bone, boils in her blood, tears pour generously from her eyes. The sting of her pain is harsh, but she won’t be the one who risk the life of her daughter. Maybe if the D.E.O. knew where the leak came from it would be different. Maybe if she hadn’t kept secrets from Alex, this would have been different. Her ex-husband’s impatient, panicked breathing on the other end of the phone brought her already painful thoughts crashing back to reality. 

Alex didn’t hear everything, but she heard enough, the man was practically shouting down in Maggie’s ears. Alex’s own heart almost stopped at the sheer panic in Maggie’s eyes, the pain, the agony that was working through her body was almost hers. Alex tried to touch Maggie’s shoulder, getting shoved back violently for her trouble. Maggie’s breathing was just out of control and tears ran down her face. Alex was struggling not to crumble down on the floor right there, because she knew then, she knew that Maggie wouldn’t want her, wouldn’t want a life in which her daughter could be threatened this way. 

“I’m jumping in my car and I’m coming over to Gotham to do whatever I can.” she shuts her phone off before James Sawyer can protest and threaten to smash the phone on the floor, stopping herself only barely. Maggie’s breath stutters, a quiet moment before letting out the loudest scream she could, only to end up choking herself up and coughing up a storm. Slapping Alex’s hands away when she tried to rub her back, prompting more tears for the both of them. Prompting Alex to keep a wide berth of distance from her. When Maggie saw that, she saw that Alex already understood, was already going through the same thoughts she was, but she couldn't just let it go without saying something. Alex deserved better than cold silence. “I’m sorry Alex, I c..I can’t do this. I can’t anymore, not if my daughter has to be involved this way. I’m sorry, it’s not fair to you, I’m so sorry... I can’t ride this with you, not if she’s the one to die.” she shake her head and pulls on her ring, and giving it back to Alex, who drops it on the ground immediately, like it burnt her, like it was weighting too much for her to hold. . 

“Please Maggie, let me help, let me... let me call the D.E.O... let me call Kara... let me do something for you, for your daughter.” Alex was desperate, shaken, she needed to hug Maggie, hold her against her body and make everything better. Alex already knew that wouldn’t work, she knew Maggie wouldn’t allow her to touch her right now or ever again and she wouldn’t push it further. “I’m sorry this is happening to you.” 

“DON’T YOU DARE call the D.E.O.!” Maggie almost screech as she screams and right now, she has a fury in her eyes and Alex for a moment there, fears Maggie to her core, fears for her own safety, for Maggie’s safety. “Your DEO couldn’t stop a fucking civilian from kidnapping their top agent, your DEO can’t keep their own secrets safe, not even from their biggest threat! Alex, Lillian just knew where the emergency command center was, the queen of all Media just knows about your D.E.O.! What the fuck do you think’s going to happen if you involve them huh!? They’re gonna kill **my** Jamie and I’m not letting you do that!” Maggie takes a threatening steps forward, Alex doesn’t budge an inch, as if ready to accept whatever Maggie does. After a quiet, harsh moment spent in silence, instead of a threat or an attack she just speaks barely above a whisper. “I’m gone” Maggie walks out right there and slams the door.

Alex sinks onto the floor, her back against the counter, picking up the ring in her hand, taking a moment to consider it, the meaning it holds. Rages boils up insider of her at the sight of the ring, throwing it on the ground hard beside her and all it does is bounces toward the front door, toward Maggie and it stops a few inches short from hitting the door. Alex reaches for the cabinet where she kept the bottle of scotch she owe Maggie and just stared at it after removing the cap. Letting tears fall off her eyes, her body shaking. 

Maggie rushes out, rushes to her car and jumps into the driver seat and before hitting the ignition, before hitting the road to Gotham with only a short pitstop at her home to gather some clothes. She picks her phone up and brings up a familiar text window, once she’s done with texting Kara she blocks her, James, J’onn, Mike, Alex, Eliza and Winn. 

M: Kara, plz go see ur sister. now. I don’t care what ur doing, please, go see her. I’m sorry Kara, I’m so sorry. It’s not fair.  
K: What’s the matter?  
K: Maggie?  
K: Maggie!?  
K: Maggie Come on, tell me what’s up!?  
M: [This user has blocked you]  
K: Omg  
M: [This user has blocked you]


	2. Unstoppable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unstoppable Kara Danvers meet So-not-ready-for-this Lena Luthor! In the aftermath of the Daxamite invasion, after Kara recovers from her heartbreaks Kara gets an assignment from Snapper Carr about suspicious activity from LCorp! When push comes to shove, what will happen to Kara and Lena's friendship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TIMELINE: This chapter happens at the same time as Chapter 1, ending with Maggie sending the text and Kara receiving it. 
> 
> Less Angsty than the last one!
> 
> Chapter 2 edited (Minor mistakes, clarification and such)

Since the Invasion ended, Kara had retreated away from everyone and into her apartment. She went out to work, of course, but for a while, there was nothing really that would make her function beyond basic necessities. Winn had tried to get her to watch movies with him, only to find her asleep within the first ten minutes. James had tried to mend their relationships, to fix the little mistakes he made and for the most part, he managed it, but Kara wasn’t in a space where she could complete her part of the healing process and had to ask James to just play it done for now. Alex had tried to shake Kara out of her funk, out of this weird numbness that she was sinking into, only to be greeted with intense frustration and demands to be given space. J’onn had called on Supergirl and Kara a few times to be met with nigh open hostility, causing Kara to leave the DEO in a huff, losing her cool in front of the rest of the agents. 

The only person that had dragged Kara out of her state was Lena and even then it never lasted longer than the lunch date they spent together or the movie they went out to watch. Almost a month had to pass before Kara could start to re-emerge by herself, getting out of bed with the sun and welcoming the sounds and voices in the city, rather than hiding from them. While most people had assumed she was mourning the sudden loss of a lover, there was something much deeper there, much more visceral hiding beneath the numbness and Kara had just recently started finding the words for it. 

And so she wrote, in her word document this morning, a gigantic wall of text, about what she felt, about just random facts she collected during the last few months, during the invasion and while she was droning away helping the repairs after the invasion. She was unsure where these words would lead her, what they would end up stringing together, but she felt bone-deep need to write them and the more she wrote it, the more the numbness faded, like a self-made therapy. So when she walked into work that morning, giving James a hug when in his office, leaving him a little surprised, greeting Cat with a wave and a bright smile, Snapper’s attention is caught by the chipper-again blonde and he raised his hand, trying to get her attention. 

“Hey, Ponytail, come over here!” the voice is the usual scratchy, indication of the grumpy mood the older man is in. He’s eating a Danish, drinking a cup of tea and reading a paper edition of the Daily Planet, an article by Clark Kent about the recent tensions mounting between aliens communities and some reticent citizen. “So, I hear you have a friend at the top of LCorp?” 

“Yes ?” Kara asked, unsure about the reason behind the request, but she’s interested, curious as to what was going in her boss’ head there. “I can have access to their C.E.O. pretty easily. What’s it about Mr.Carr?” 

“LCorp recently got a contract to help redesign the city’s infrastructure, we lack details, I want you to fix that. LCorp got a contract about something concerning security, we lack details, I want you to fix that, LCorp has about five different charities subsidiaries around the city and it reeks of tax dodging and dubious Luthor-ing, we lack details, you fix that.” Snapper elaborated slowly, rather calmly too, unusual from him. Kara took a few notes. 

“Most of that should be fairly simple enough, the charities might be... touchy, since they’re subsidiaries, I might require more time for those to dig properly, so, maybe in a follow article, this is a lot to work on in one go.” Kara already knew that Lena would be tight-lipped about the charities and would oppose any attention being brought to them and whoever funded them and while she would at least attempt to do her job, she would also attempt to not alienate her friend. The rest, she was pretty sure she could either just ask Lena or find it publicly. 

“I agree, it’s a lot to dig up, it’s why you have no deadline for this one Ponytail, I want to see you work a long story, see what you do with it.” he points her to the door of his office. “Now, next time you come into my office is because you’re done with this story, we clear ?” He had asked, this story was a chance for Kara to prove herself, a way for Snapper to test her. The fact that it would be a break from the chipper irritant for Snapper was just a convenient side effects. James and Cat were eyeing each other through the windows of their offices, when Kara came out, nodding with a smile, their plan was working. 

Kara on the other hand had eyes wide when she heard the kind of assignment she was given, she found no word to speak so, she simply left through the door, heading to her desk to start working over a few things she had left over. Using this time to send a text to Lena. 

K: Lena, I need to have a chat with you and possibly a few member of the LCorp board of directors for work related reasons. Just be warned, this is kind of big for me, so I might have to be an actual bother this time.  
L: I can give you a few of the board’s number and you can set up the interview with them , I am not privy to their schedule. I could be available around five today for an overview of what you’re looking for ? I suspect this has to do with the load of contracts LCorp’s been getting ?  
K: Yep, that and a few other things. By the way, I’m feeling much better , thank you Lena.  
L: Glad to hear it. Sorry again.  
K: See you later tonight. 

She is drawn from whatever response Lena sent to that by James, who’s knocking on her desk, smiling brightly at her. His pink shirt and black tie painting a professional, if soft, image of the man. “Hey, so, you seem to be a bit better now? “ He’s full of concern, genuine tone and soft demeanor so characteristic of James. “You want to go grab lunch at Noonan’s today?” 

Kara smiles at the offer and nods once. “Thanks James, yes, I feel better, see you at lunch? I really gotta get ready for this thing Snapper just gave me” and when she says that, there’s a fire in the back of her eyes again, a little tingle in her heart that lights back the fire, chasing away the darkness that had inhabited her for a while. James left, a bright smile on both of them. Then she picks her phone up and sends a few texts, Alex, Winn and Maggie in particular gets apologies for her recent mood and pictures of cats and dogs as a bonus, they are returned with smiles and queries about her own well being. Once the queries are responded to, Kara sets her phone down and push further with her own work. 

//

In the weeks following the end of the Daxamite invasion, Lena had been escorted out of her own building twice by her own security, so she could go and rest before her health would be compromised. A gesture she had, correctly, attributed to Jess. Mysteriously, however, Jess found herself on paid leave the next week and Alana had been set up as her replacement for these impromptu vacations. Lena had appreciated the concern from her assistant, but being home relaxing was definitely not something that had helped anyone. Nightmares and guilt came in abundance and she could never convince Jess to let her work without telling her what had happened. If she died of exhaustion, Lena reasoned, it would probably be best for everyone. 

Lena’s only respite since the invasion was over were her meetings with Kara Danvers; little windows of concentrated sunshine into her nightmarish daydream of a life. Really, Lena didn’t have time to meet with her friend, she also felt that she didn’t deserve her friend, but she also reasoned that Kara didn’t deserve to lose a friend after losing her significant other because of her actions. So she gave Kara every spot of free time she could. 

Her self assigned work now was to try and fix National City, offer relief to the people that the invasion hurt, quietly pay for every damn funerals that occurred as a result of her errors in judgement, giving clear instruction to the shadow charities she had founded for relief. She also used her fierce business skills to land contracts everywhere in the city, charging the city the bare minimum to get these contracts, to be allowed to fix her own mistake. “If I’m going to deal damage the way my brother did, I’m at least going to fix it.” was the mantra playing on repeat in her mind. 

And then, later in the month, the panic attacks started. At least once a day, sometimes as many times as five, Lena had to retreat to the bathroom or one of the company’s side room. Lena had gotten some medication for that after missing a board meeting due to a full melt down. Supergirl had found her, more than once, sleeping at her desk or looking completely lost on her balcony. 

But today, she had slept, she had breakfast and she had actually taken the proper medication, the proper way, having locked the liquor away to avoid temptation. When Kara sent her text, she almost had a panic attack seeing her requests for her journalistic endeavors. She quickly made room for her friend, she knew these meeting could run long. Now the clock was running down toward five. 

//

Fifteen minutes before the allotted time, Alana sent a quiet message to Lena about Kara's appointment with one of the board member being over early, asking if she should send the woman into her office. Lena replied quickly to let her friend in whenever she was ready. The blonde walked into her office a few minutes later, white button up, black pants, shined shoes, a smile appears on Lena, finally a little reprieve. 

“Hey Lena, I brought dinner, don’t bother pretending you ate.” Kara stated with a semi joking tone, setting down a bag of takeout for Lena, from her favorite vegetarian restaurant. “Kale salad with that weird fermentation drink you had me try a while ago and Italian chocolate cake for dessert. I got myself a club sandwich.” 

Lena held her hand up at Kara’s very correct accusation of skipping meal, quietly thanking her and setting the food out on her desk, after clearing a spot to be able to eat. “You’re fantastic, I’ve been wanting to go back there for a while, I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to...” she gesture all around her as way of explanation.  
“You’ve been overworking yourself for almost a month Lena and I know you sent Jess on a vacation for trying to keep you healthy.” she reprimand her friend playfully, through their meals. Surprisingly, Lena was done eating before Kara, she had been ravenous for a good meal. “If I have to call down Supergirl to drag you to bed at a normal hour tonight, I will.” 

“Well that sound wildly inappropriate.” Lena teased, Kara blushed and got flustered for a moment, but she was getting used to their little flirty banter and she fired back this time, to Lena’s surprise.

“Something tells me both of you could use a little loving. Imagine the headline though! I want that scoop if that happens.” she takes an official announcement voice and make a headline gesture in the air. “A Luthor and a Super, shagging each other!” 

It was Lena’s turn to be flustered and stunned, Kara firing back her own flirty banter was usually more subdued than this, she couldn’t help but break out into a laughing fit, holding her sides a little bit when she was done with her full, loud laughing fit. “Wow Kara, thank you, I needed that.” A deep breath and then a look at her friend, her eyes, her smile and her lovely, oh so lovely hair. 

“I aim to please” with a little bit of a theatrical bow, setting her empty bags and food container aside, she set her bag on her lap and pulled a folder out of it, setting it down on the desk and sliding it across the desk to Lena. “When you’re ready for a bit of business stuff, I wrote down a summary of everything I need to know. It’s not the usual fluff piece, a fair warning. I literally have no deadline on this article.” 

Lena opened the file after finishing cleaning her side of the desk from her meal and she read through the summary, through the files Kara had already dug up through public fashion, reading her notes about missing information. It became clear to Lena that Kara was serious about her warnings, a lot of these request were touchy at the best of times, but the lack of deadline meant that whatever she didn’t give Kara now, Kara would just dig up herself. “Well, Miss Danvers, I have a fair amount of time available right now, if you’d like to engage with me over one or two of the topics, I wouldn’t be opposed.” 

“Well, that’s fantastic Miss Luthor.” playful smile on her lips, Kara peered over her own personal notes and decided where to go with this interview first. The Infrastructure deal was public, she could easily find this by making the proper requests and it would probably look better if she did that. The charities, Kara knew would get Lena to clamp down hard and she knew why, that would still be the hard part. So she picked the security deal Snapper mentioned. “There are a few, rather empty, records from the chamber of commerce about a security deal LCorp has made recently... I was curious as to the secrecy and the almost illegal lack of details about the deal.” 

Lena lets out a little sigh, she knew when she made that deal that it could cause friction with her friend, with other investor, but she had a moral obligation to herself to try and help protect earth and damn it she couldn’t put her own wants above that. “I was afraid you’d ask that first.” she admits to Kara, shaking her head a bit. “It’s a joint project with National City and Washington, that much should be in the files. I’m afraid a lot of this is classified.” 

Kara was nervous, very nervous in fact, but she stilled her hand, trying not to show her nervousness there and she pressed on, she could easily get clearance on the deal there and she knew that, but she couldn’t just let a piece of information like that just slip past her. “Nothing about the details from the chamber of commerce stated this was a government project and if it was classified, then details wouldn’t be available to the public, Miss Luthor.” 

“I can disclose part of the deal, yes, but only what concerns National City. Washington I really have to be tight lipped about.” Lena explained, Kara made a mental note to berate the D.E.O. for clearances there. “National City has put out a request for range scanners that could Identify aliens and meta-human citizens. LCorp already has designs like these, as you know Miss Danvers and they were rather instrumental in delaying the Daxamite invasion and revealing their Queen” 

Kara grits her teeth and lets the anger rise a little bit, it’s the first time she’s felt anger today and it’s not the mild irritation she’d felt through the last month, the bothersome little tug at her heart. This was a fire lighting up her soul and rather than sap her energy, this fed it. “Security concerns are one thing Miss Luthor, I understand where they come from, but what of their privacy? Under the Alien rights bill, they have every rights from the constitution.” 

“They have scanners at airports to stop people from entering the plane with guns and a plethora of completely inane object that could theoretically work as dangerous chemicals.” Lena explains simply, calmly, she knew Kara would be against this, she knew this hurt her friend and she would at least offer her a proper defense of her own ideas. “But there are currently no ways to determine the innate abilities of some of the species that find their ways on earth. Imagine the Infernian that attempted to assault the president, Miss Danvers, imagine that person getting angry on a plane mid-flight, nobody could stop anything they wanted to do. We need to have some ways to know. Some way to prevent.”

“The potential for discrimination against the alien population is staggering, Miss Luthor, what’s to stop LCorp from having a scanner to screen out any Alien from being hired? Or the technology falling into the hands of Project Cadmus and what’s to even stop them to just buy it clandestinely when it comes out to the public, what’s to stop them from just taking it from LCorp and developing it faster than you can? The leader of the organization was on the board of this company and has visited you at least twice, Miss Luthor and given the assassination attempt you suffered, I would dare say, Cadmus still has eyes on what happens at LCorp.” Kara just rapid fired the questions, the statement, it’s not that she was angry at Lena, she understood on a base level that yes, security was important, but, calling out the problems was necessary and her friend would understand that, she hoped. 

Lena was calm, composed, letting a little twitch of her mouth show when Kara mentioned the assassination attempt and her mother. “I would never let the technology get developed by Cadmus, I assure you that Cadmus does not have eyes on me or my company and I certainly do not appreciate the insinuation that aliens are not welcomed into the rank of LCorp’s employee.” 

“Miss Luthor, what plans are in motion to stop Cadmus from stealing designs, what sort of security protocols did you use to ensure that Cadmus do not have eyes on your work ?” Kara knew Lena had nothing for that question. “And for the record, I know you do not have an anti alien agenda, I truly believe that, I believe you. The problem is that, you’re not LCorp, you’re only one person leading it, how much of your morals are shared by the board of directors? The lab technicians? How much of the details do you personally have to gloss over to get through the day?” Kara cleared her throat, watching Lena, the tension in the air was heavy right now, the glare Lena had for her was not friendly, but there was something _else_ in her posture, her demeanor that made Kara proud this moment. 

“Leave my office, please” This was not what Lena wanted to say, this was not what Lena had wanted out of this meeting, this was not how Lena wanted her friendship with Kara to end, but she was sure of it now, it wouldn’t recover. The request was not made angrily, but this was the cold, calculating demeanor of the Luthor surfacing, she had lost that verbal bout spectacularly against Kara and she needed time to regroup and reconsider. Nurse her own pride back to health and to consider Kara’s words and questions. 

It stung, even through the anger and the frustration she was feeling through this conversation, Kara’s heart stung hard, skipping a beat when Lena made her request, she gathered her notes, her folder and the take out trash, as usual and left the office, quietly. As she was descending through the elevator, a mixture of pride and confidence swelled through her heart, obfuscating the pain for a moment and she left the building, sporting a sad kind of smile. After disposing of the take out’s trash in a nearby can, Kara’s cellphone buzzed with a text Message from Maggie . Upon reading it, the kryptonian's eyes went wide. “Oh no.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come yell at me on tumblr! https://iamsuperconfused.tumblr.com/
> 
> Chapter 3 almost done already and features: A Danvers sister moment! A Kara and Maggie moment!


	3. 3 meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara meets with her sister to learn of the events of the day, then goes to meet with Maggie and after coming back from that talk, she talks to J'onn. A lot of Kara this chapter, but a tiny hint of foreshadowing about the plot!
> 
> Edited for clarification, errors and such.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is mostly going to be finishing what Kara has started so far and the fallout of that.  
> Chapter 5 is looking like it's going to be Alex centric

Kara looked at her watch, she could easily justify her not returning to CatCo at this time in the evening, looking at her surrounding for a moment, she seize her opportunity to change, flying up up and away. A few moments later, the girl of steel broke the sound barrier over National City, heading straight toward her favorite approach to her sister’s place, she had more than one, if Supergirl was spotted getting into the same direction several times, people would get suspicious. She heard her sister’s crying, her incoherent mumbling as she reached her destination and already, Kara was getting upset. When she was in range she used her X-ray vision, a heart wrenching view of her sister, sitting on the floor. A bottle of something in her hand, punching the nearest surface in impotent rage. 

Kara flew right in, through an opened window, just falling down on her haunches, sliding up to Alex, knocking a few papers off of shelves and causing a gasp in surprise when Alex saw her sister. “Wh-what are you doing here !?” her voice hoarse from screaming, crying, trembling from fear and pain. 

“I got a text message from Maggie then she blocked me.” Kara was already on edge from her conversation with Lena, this situation was pushing her toward fury “She asked me to be here, something about not being fair, I didn’t read too carefully I was already trying to find a place to change and fly here.” 

Alex had cried a lot, she was exhausted, shaking from the emotional shock, her face bearing the trauma of her day. Fortunately, the bottle of scotch in her hand was left un-opened, un-touched. Kara had drawn her out of her pain-induced stupor, out of her shocked daze when she had arrived, strangely, there was a little smile on her lips as she saw her. “Fair warning, I’m going to swear a lot.” both of the sisters let out a little chuckle, a memory shared together resurfacing. “Today fucking sucked, Kara... I... don’t know where to start, the stuff with Maggie’s just the worst of it and trust me, that’s saying something.” 

Kara's rising fury subsided slowly, if her sister was able to make little joke like these, maybe her anger wasn't warranted. “Why don’t you start with what happened with Maggie, we can work our way down from there, okay?” Supergirl sat right beside her sister, on the floor of her kitchen and wrapped her cape around her shoulder, pulling Alex against her side. 

“Maggie came here today with a huge, bright smile, she was so happy Kara, it was beautiful” Alex begins, closing her eyes and speaking soft and calm. “She had some things to tell me about herself, things I needed to know if we were going to be wives.” a soft sniffle, burying her face into her sister’s supporting shoulder. “Told me Sawyer wasn’t her Maiden’s name, she used to be married to some douche, back when she wasn’t sure she was exclusively into women.” 

Kara raised her eyebrow and looked at her sister, listening to the story, running her fingers over her back, under her cape. She knew there was more to the story, she knew that just that tidbit wouldn’t be enough to make Alex this upset. 

“Then she... she told me she had a kid from that marriage, a daughter, didn’t have custody, didn’t have visitation rights.” she shake her head “calls her on her birthday and has no choice but to let the other fucking dickbag spin the tales about her.” Alex growled the part about the girl's father “Jamie Sawyer” looking to Kara with a little sad smile. “But then, like, I swear to god, there wasn’t five second between her telling me that and her fucking phone ringing.” Alex’s heartbeat picked up and she punched the ground again, harder and tears began pouring again. “Her ex called her to tell her, Cadmus has her daughter... that the person who called ? they said didn’t approve of us...” she shake her head 

Kara was stunned for a moment, her anger caught in her throat again, her eyes shining with heat, just for a moment, bringing herself down for Alex. “How did they know about that?” Alex shakes her head and shrugs, unknowing of the answers. Kara guesses what's next “So she left, because she didn’t want to risk her daughter... okay I... I... don’t know what to tell you.” she kiss her sister’s forehead and hugs her close. “Do you want me to go see her ? try to convince her to let us help?” 

“I... she thinks the D.E.O. is compromised... or incompetent. I’m not sure, but she seem to think if the D.E.O. moves her daughter’s going to be in danger and the painful part... is that I don’t know that she’s wrong Kara.” Alex took a few deep breath and shakes a bit. “Please don’t hate her, I... I’m very hurt right now, but it’s not her fault, it’s not because she doesn’t love me...” 

“I don’t hate her, do you know where she was going? do you know where she is now ? I feel like I should at least... try to talk to her.” Kara clears her throat, keeps trying to sooth Alex by rubbing circle over her back. 

“Gotham... she’s either at her place or on the road.” Alex explained, shrugging, not trying to convince Kara to not go, she just didn’t have that much energy in her right now, she lowered her head and tried to take a few deep calming breath, clutching the bottle in her hand. 

“And what else happened today ? I get the feeling this is like Alex and the terrible, very bad, no good day.” A bit of a dry snort from Alex there as she steadies a little, squirming a little due to Kara putting a bit too much pressure. 

“President Marsdin got really mad at me for what happened at the end of the invasion, I... I almost got sent to jail. If it hadn’t been for J’onn and Winn...” she shakes her head and lower her head, shame and humiliation rushing back to the forefront of her mind for a moment. “I’m suspended for 6 months because I beat up prisoners instead of In Jail for compromising planetary security” 

Kara winces and let out a little sigh of frustration, it’s a little less than Alex expected, but she still clings to Kara’s arm for a moment and squeak out a little request. “Please, don’t be mad at the D.E.O. for that, I... I don’t think it’s entirely un-fair.” 

But Kara shakes her head for a moment, kissing her sister’s forehead. “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t exactly make it easy for you to obey her.” there is a silence that follows, one that grows more uncomfortable for a while and Alex decides to be the ont to break it. 

“You can say it Kara, I know there’s something you need to get off your chest.” she pokes at her sister’s chest as if to illustrate the point and watches her, resting her chin onto her shoulder. “Don’t worry, today was so bad it actually can’t get any worse.” Kara takes a deep breath. 

“I... I was hoping you wouldn’t get away with the beating prisoners part.” She admits and sigh a bit “I... I really didn’t think you should’ve been affiliated with Jeremiah’s case and neither should I have, or J’onn for that matters.” she clear her throat, nervous. “We didn’t have the distance we needed to see the betrayal coming, Lucy or Vasquez would have done better if they were assigned this.” 

Alex winced, hearing her sister say that, grumbling a bit before admitting, grudgingly. “You’re not wrong Kara. It hurts a bit to hear, but, it... it’s not undeserved.” Alex sets the scotch back into the cabinet and shakes her head, resting her forehead against her sister. “Can...you leave me alone for a while? I promise you this isn’t because of what you just said and I promise you I won’t drink I just... need to mope and hide in my bed.” 

“I’ll check on you in the morning, Alex, okay? I’ll even bring breakfast if you keep your promise not to drink.” Kara offered and chuckled along with her sister. “I’m going to try and catch Maggie before she goes away. I promise I’ll be gentle, I just... want to wish her well.” Alex was already crying again and was shooing Kara silently toward the window she used to get in. “Call me if you need or want anything from me, okay?” When Alex nodded, Kara flew herself out of the window to search the night for her sister’s ex. 

Alex closes the window behind her and walks to her bed, just flopping down in it and rolling herself up in the covers, only to walk away from it all just a moment later, crashing on the couch instead, covering her face with her hands. “The bed smells so much like her, damnit.” crying herself to sleep wasn’t something she would be proud of herself for, so she turned on the tv and stared at it, falling a sleep an hour later. 

//

Kara tried her apartment first, landing on top of the building delicately, closing her eyes and listening to the surrounding carefully, she couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary and there were no lights in Maggie’s windows, resorting to her X-ray after a while, she saw that Maggie wasn’t there and that there was quite the mess in there. Kara pulls her phone out and make a quick google search about how to go to Gotham from this location, finding out the road, she starts flying alongside it. Taking time to watch every car on the road at this time in the evening. 

It’s when she reaches the edge of National City, that she sees the woman she’s looking for, jeans, leather jacket and exhausted expression, at a gas station, the last one before getting out of the city. There’s a bandage on Maggie’s hand, the one holding the gas pump into her car. Maggie is tapping her foot, growing rapidly impatient with the time it was taking to fill her tank, every little delay was an exponential irritant. 

Kara lands a fair distances from Maggie, hands already held up in a sort of peaceful demeanor, but Maggie doesn’t see her, or she pretend she doesn’t, Kara isn’t sure. “Detective, can I come closer ?” she calls out to Maggie, trying to get her attention, she had hesitated before using her name, thinking Maggie wouldn’t like the familiarity, waiting for Maggie’s response. 

Maggie turns toward Kara and there is a flash of sadness, of regret. There is a struggle between anger and relief for a moment there before Maggie forces herself to look and act angry. “Go away Supergirl, today was bad enough, I don’t need to get yelled at for what happened.” She tried, really tried not to let it show she was already cracking from the trauma of the day, but her voice wavered and shook. 

“I’m not here to yell at you,” she lowers her hand and closes her eyes, getting a lid on her own emotions, she’d need to be strong here, for her sister, for Maggie. “I’m here to check on you.” She risked a step forward and that’s pretty much what does it for Maggie, she stops the pump from filling the car and take a step back, holding her hand up defensively, Kara stops moving, shaking her head. “I want to tell you, I understand, I get it. Alex does too.” 

“Stop Kara, I can’t have to deal with this right now, I can’t... I can’t” she shake her head and is almost crying already, hating herself for not being able to hold herself together the way she wanted to right now. “I’m sorry I hurt your sister, I’m sorry I had to run like this. But I can’t offer you more than that, I can’t risk my daughter’s life.” her voice was much like when Maggie had told Kara that she had just as much to lose as her, when she was kidnapped. 

“If you take five minutes to talk to me Maggie, I can fly you to Gotham along with your car, you’d be there tonight instead of sometimes in the morning.” Kara offers with a gentle voice, risking another step closer to Maggie. 

Maggie lowers her arms, and she sniffles and she squirm in place, letting out a frustrated sigh. “You’re as stubborn as she is.” she tease dejectedly, shaking her head. “But since you’re offering to get me there faster than I could, fine, I guess I can give you five minutes.” impatience already boiling through the detective’s demeanor. 

“I caught from Alex that you don’t want D.E.O. help because you think they’re compromised or something, I get it” she nods “I won’t offer to help you, I think listening to you when this kind of things happen is a good idea, your girl’s safety is good with you.” She spoke those words, if only to get Maggie to calm down or open up. “But let me offer my shoulder and my time as a friend Maggie, call me when you need to yell or cry, ok? I know for a fact my computer and apartment aren’t bugged” 

“I can’t risk something like that Kara, the problem seemed to be my relationship with women, I don’t want to risk my daughter.” Maggie explains, meekly, shame pouring out of every pore of her being and her own mind flashing back to her father and her youth, she shake her head. “I appreciate you offering that, I’ll unblock you and send you something if I.. find anything on Cadmus.” 

“D.E.O. issued phone, don’t risk it. Go through Skype, or send at email, or hell, leave a message of my blog. Kdanvers.com” Kara said, showing said phone and then shoving it back into her pocket and moves closer again and open her arms. “You need a hug, consider this a parting gift, okay?” 

Maggie sunk into Kara’s arms and for a moment, felt a bit better, protected from the world's cruelty, returning the hug only weakly and removing herself from it a little too rapidly and clearing her throat. “Just make sure to give one to Alex for me... I’d like to be on my way now, please. If you’re still okay with the ride I mean.” 

Kara nodded and let Maggie gets into her car, after paying for the gas. Kara easily picked up the car, flying with it toward Maggie’s destination, flying faster than the car could drive, over landscapes and through weather. Finally as they reached Gotham city, Kara set the car down gently, only to find Maggie sleeping at the wheel. After gently shaking the woman awake, causing no end of grumpy mumbling and a frown, Maggie finished the drive back to Gotham within five minutes, just when Kara’s communicator flared up. 

“Supergirl, I’d like to have an update on your very weird location right now.” J’onn spoke in the comm, expecting a proper update, Kara flew up to head back to National city. 

“Not over this channel you won’t. I’m headed to the D.E.O. give me about twenty minutes.” Kara replied, a touch less dry than she would have a week ago. 

A frustrated sigh from J’onn before he replies simply. “Roger that, Steel Eagle” she shake her head at the official call sign heading back to National City. 

//

J’onn was on the repaired Balcony just outside of the D.E.O. scouring the sky above the city for the girl of steel, he was in simple gear, wore a stern, exhausted look on his face. Today hadn’t been good at all for him or for anyone he loved, except maybe Agent Schott, but he couldn’t really count on that to save the day. Dealing with the presidential fallout had been fairly difficult. Though in light of everything, it hadn’t been too bad in the long run as they had managed to secure a few budgetary needs. But right now, he needed to talk with Supergirl and the delays that came with it were worrying. 

Few agents would dare bother him when he seemed to be in the kind of mood to tap his foot at Kara or Alex, but Winn wasn’t as scared as the others and he approached the boss carefully. “Hey so, "desert nest" is requesting an update on the current situation, Director Lane is saying the personnel over there got pretty nervous over the presidential fall out today and said something about morale needing a boost.” 

A gentle smile appears on J’onn and he pat Winn on the shoulder. “Update the desert base with the good news, don’t mention the bad news unless they ask for it.” Winn did a play salute to J’onn with that answer and turned back to get to his post. “I’m proud of you, Agent Schott, you did good today.” Winn gave him a smile and then went back to sit at his desk. 

The communicator lit up with Supergirl’s voice. “Approaching National City, ETA about five minutes, J’onn.” A few people in the command center looked up at the communication and went about their days, Winn was looking at Supergirl’s location and shrugged when he confirmed her assessment with just a nod to his boss. 

J’onn just chose not to wait and flew up in the air after shifting form to the green martian, heading toward Supergirl’s location. Flowing between the building in the dark at a rather high pace, he met with her right over the city’s limits, a mere minute later, both of them standing at a standstill, facing each other, both with questions in their eyes, both with frustration in their hearts and yet, the first thing that happens is an opening of their arms for a hug. 

“I’m sorry for acting weird recently” Supergirl said, patting his back, letting him hug her and appreciating the force she could actually put into hugging him, withdrawing from the it after it went on long enough. “I’m starting to feel better, or I was.” she look back from where she came from, then back to J’onn. 

“So, you want to tell me what you were doing in Gotham?” J’onn asked straight away, hands on his hips and somewhat disapproving gleam in his demeanor, slowly floating down toward a small wooded area, buffer between the road and a row of houses

Supergirl followed the descent and when they touched ground, she shook her head. “That’s not something I want to discuss.” Supergirl wasn’t about to send the D.E.O. hot on Maggie’s trail if they weren’t going to be secured against Cadmus.

“And why is that ?” A frown on him, he risk a little gruff in his voice, irritation from the day bleeding profusely into this conversation. Suspecting the girl of steel was being resentful for the treatment of her sister. 

“Because it’s a very sensitive matter and I have reasons to believe the D.E.O. isn’t as secure as it should be. Cadmus could learn of any involvement with what I’m not talking about and it is not a risk I want to take nor would Alex for that matter.” Kara put a little emphasis on her sister's name, though it was not aggressive. 

That was a much different explanation than what J’onn was expecting and his face changed, softened quite rapidly after listening to Kara’s explanation. “Okay, what do you have?” 

“Somone mentioned that Lillian finding our location during the invasion was an hint, M... Jeremiah being a former agent and what if he stole something else? Alex and Winn catching a mole in the D.E.O. that was giving Kryptonite to cadmus, why would there be just one? We do keep a few of their prisoners at our holding cell..” 

J’onn nodded. “I’ll ask a few trusted people to look into the possibilities, I admit that’s not a part I’ve done very well at.” he said with a soft exhale. “There is a lot of other things on your mind aren’t there ?” He heard the buzzing noise of a busy mind around Kara right now, he had a harder time reading Kryptonian mind, but they still made noises from time to time. 

“I’ve talked to Alex... today I’m... not as angry as you think I might be honestly.” she sighs a little bit “And I told her that too, I’m happy she isn’t getting away with beating prisoners.” she said with a bit of shame in her voice, a short moment where there might be a tear in Kara’s eyes. “I understand I need to thank you and Winn for stopping her from going to Jail however ?” 

“Winn did most of the work on that one he..” J’onn looked back toward the D.E.O. ‘s building direction and then back to Kara. “He surprised me, I may not be able to make Alex my successor after today, but I think Winn might actually have what it takes.” A proud smile on J’onn’s face. 

Kara smiled too, nodding picking a branch from the ground and fiddling with it. “No what I have on my mind is... about me and the D.E.O. I’ve been growing very frustrated with everything lately and it’s not entirely because of what happened during the invasion.” She looks at him with a bit of an un-easy look, but if she had the gut to struggle with Lena today, to call her out, she had the guts to go through with what she wanted to say. 

“Go ahead, Kara, I’m listening.” J’onn studied one of the only person in the world he could open up to, watching her now, watching her stand up and talk to him, calling his work out, standing for herself, even in minor ways, she was growing and there was some pride J’onn felt for that. 

“I get nothing out of this.” she explains “I get to be called on at anytime, without regard for my actual paying job’s requirement. I get ordered around like I’m in the army, but I get none of the benefits, no salary, no advantages, no discount, no officially recognized salutes. Also, I get a call to know where I am and what I’m doing in the middle of the night without any emergencies being involved.” Kara said, clearing her throat, nervous. “I’m not saying I don’t like working with you, or even the D.E.O. but liking something that demanding isn’t enough anymore, J’onn. At least get me clearances so I can do my reporter job properly, find a way to be my sources when I write an article about Alien safety. All of that is without me talking about how you... oh so gently ‘asked’ me to join and start helping you... being shot with Kryptonite Syringes was not a good first impression.” a soft grin. 

J’onn’s eyes went a little wider when Kara started talking about her wants and needs, he ran his fingers over his chin, clearly thinking her requests over and considering the options. Mention of how they had first captured her reminded him of how far the two of them had gotten and how...extreme that particular method was, a shake of his head follow that thought. “Not exactly how that happened, but I get your point, Kara I understand.” he takes a moment to move closer to her. “I’ll discuss the possibilities with recruitment officers so we can get something going for you or maybe even Kara Danvers. I wouldn’t keep my hopes up for reporter clearances, that’s going to be a tough one to pass through.” 

“Thanks for the consideration J’onn, but it really should come second to making sure the D.E.O. is safe.” 

“I can do both for you Kara, I’ll call you soon about this. Now, please go see Winn, I think he’d like a hug and the chance to talk to you.” 

“I’ll do that tomorrow, I... had to fly back and forth from Gotham and I didn’t have the best day today either. I’ll have lunch with him tomorrow.” 

They parted ways, quietly, heading to their own homes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come yell at me on tumblr: https://iamsuperconfused.tumblr.com/


	4. Headstrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara reconcile with Lena, finishes her article and has a very serious conversation with J'onn and the President of the United State!
> 
> Edited for clarification. More edited than other chapters, I would re-read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 is going to be Alex figuring out what to do with herself for the next 6 months!  
> Chapter 6 will follow Maggie's first few weeks in Gotham

Kara checked on her sister every morning that week, bringing her food, flowers and a few books to read to help her recover from her heartbreak. Kara even spent part of the morning there; writing for her article and her personal project. She had lunch with Winn, thanking him for protecting her sister, she had lunch with James again and made sure they were on good term for real this time, rekindling her friendship that had been most wounded in the past year. Kara however, avoided Lena, unable to gather the courage to see if her friend had gotten over their little fight. Part of Kara also hadn’t gotten over how hostile Lena had been, ending the interview and maybe she was hoping for an apology. However, she knew Lena was proud and stubborn, so she would have to give her the time.

After she was done with consolidating her friendships, Kara had meetings during lunch breaks with boards members of the charities Snapper thought were fronts for L-Corp tax dodge. She had a dinner with the other L-Corp board members and some of their other subsidiaries. She requested documentation from the chamber of commerce and acquired it rapidly, the Luthor name playing hard in Kara’s favor this time. The more she uncovered about the dealings of the company, the more she discovered how fierce the competition had been. When the maths was done, Kara was left wondering if L-Corp would be making any kind of substantial profits from these dealings.

Digging deeper, Kara spoke with the director to one of the charity subsidiaries she had investigated. After waiting for them to get out of their work and hounding them persistently throughout the day, The man grudgingly parted with a few pieces of information, unable to handle to stubborn woman any longer. It appeared that most of the actual profits that would have gone to L-Corp were landing straight in donation, several ethics specialist had been sent to investigate to verify embezzling and other, similar crimes and had found nothing. The charities were mostly tasked to take in refugees and assist with repairs that private homeowners would not be able to afford.

After she went to the police station, using her press credentials and being recognized by a few of Maggie’s colleague, she was granted access to the report concerning the ethics investigation, though she had to trade an autographed picture with Supergirl for the kind service. They knew she could arrange that, Kara played the ‘one time only’ card when that had been requested.

Coming back home way too late at the ass end of a Saturday night, she flopped down on her couch, peering through her phone, reading a few missed messages , mostly inconsequential except for one update about Maggie: She had just found an apartment in Gotham. Nothing else was in the message, but it had Kara smile sadly, shaking her head. A text message drew her from her momentary bout of sadness.

 **Message from:** DetectorMG 

**Subject:** Update 

**Message:** Hey Little Danvers, I found an apartment. Gotham sucks. I have a roomate. Nothing about Jamie yet.

As she was reading through Maggie's message, a text popped on her phone screen

L: You have several of my employees and affiliates scrambling for answers to confusion due to 'very insistent’ investigating I needed to call an emergency general assembly for next week. :| I should have taken your words to heart when you said you would have to be a bother this time. I am very sorry I did not.

K: Was this a Luthor apology ? Because it feels like a Luthor apology.

L: No. Not at all. I am just letting you know that you are being a bother to everyone but me. I am not sorry, I am jealous. :|

K: When's good to bother you with the rest of my interview?

L: Tomorrow at lunch.

K: you just want to have lunch with me again, you miss me.

No further replies came, Kara knew this was likely going to be the case when she made her accusation and she was a bit amused that her friend would take such social detour to avoid showing too much attachment. She’d have to be careful if she didn’t want to risk Lena just leaving Lunch tomorrow, but this was a step in the right direction.

Kara returned to work, typing out notes and part of her articles from the various documents that she had peered over during the week, the discussions she had with several people on the boards, directors, managers and other press releases from different companies that had also applied to get some of the post-invasion contract and failed. The work she had accomplished in a week would likely impress by sheer size and scope, but Kara was determined to use every ounce of her advantages be it that she is Kryptonian, who she knew and what clearances the D.E.O. could get her. 

//

Lunchtime, she was sitting at the designated table, worried, nervous that her friend wouldn’t show up, reading the latest text sent to organize everything and there were just a ‘seen’ on the screen, no replies, no emojis. “Well, Kara’s probably just returning you the silence you gave her last night, you idiot.” Lena told herself, sipping her water, to soothe her nerves more than because she was thirsty. Lena caught sight of the reporter at the restaurant’s entrance, getting past the valet, getting past the waitresses and finally joining her table. A light pink button up and a pair of mauve pants with a white belt, hair in a bun, Kara always had interesting fashion choices of course. “Hey Kara, long time no see, I hear you were busy.” Lena’s smirk shines.

“Yeah well, I admit I left last time with a pretty big fire lit in my gut so... I was motivated. I guess I should thank you.” Kara said with a little smile and looking over the menu, selecting quickly what she wanted and setting the menu down. “And maybe apologize too, I... I shouldn’t have said anything about your mother, that’s not what a friend does.”

“Well, a friend also doesn’t ask to be left alone with this much vehemence, so maybe we should call it even.” she leans forward and in a soft, almost ashamed whisper. “I’m genuinely sorry about what I did that evening Kara, thank you for giving me the chance to make it better, even if I’m not very good at it.”

Kara smiled, breathing in relief, sinking comfortable in her chair. “You’re better than you give yourself credit for.” the food is delivered shortly after and both women enjoy their meal, or a snack in Kara’s case. Once the dessert was had and lunchtime slowly ticked away from their grasp, both of them left, leaving their payment behind and walking together for a while.

“You know Kara, I.. I really admire how you handled the situation last time we spoke, I didn’t think there was any steel beneath your soft, sunny disposition, but I’m proud of you to have shown me wrong. Despite everything.” Lena spoke the compliment as they were ready to part.

Kara blinks once or twice at it and clears her throat, trying to hide how flustered she's getting. “Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.” she smiles, sunnily at her Lena. “I’m proud you’re still trying to be a force for good, even when math’s involved.”

Both women chuckled at that, both of them knew what Kara meant, about the charities, about the money spent and profits being minimized, they parted ways with a spring in their steps.

//  
(The Next Day)

Kara was pretty sure that the call she had this morning from J’onn was because of their discussion on the edge of National City. So when she walked through the halls, escorted by two armed agent, led into a black, secret office with a video feed from the mainframe of the D.E.O. ? She wasn’t as nervous as others would normally be, she had a fairly good idea of what would transpired. Yet, as a prudent measure she used her x-ray vision on the guards nearby, no kryptonite to be found, no special weaponry, no implant except their tracking chips, the escort left J'onn and Kara alone.

The door closed behind Kara, J’onn faced her, he was in full gear, like he was going to go out in the field right after this particular conversation. He studied Kara before her and he takes a deep breath. “Normally, hiring Aliens into the D.E.O. would be absolutely impossible.” The look on Kara’s face when she heard those words almost made J’onn crack a smile, he could practically hear the Kryptonian’s mind screaming something equivalent to ‘bullshit’. “We both know, however that the truth is more complicated than that, we shamelessly used your alter-ego’s talents already, same with the president giving her personal approval to my placement as the Director, though her motive are now, perhaps called into question, with what we learned during the invasion.”

J’onn took his seat and reached for remote, turning on the screen, pushed a button and the screen became scrambled, silent and she could hear something in the room, an ultra sound created by what ever J’onn had done. “This will afford us actual privacy for a moment.” he clear his throat. “I contacted president Marsdin, I contacted a few of the recruitment officers and there are worries about Kara Danvers being a reporter and allowed here. Not everyone knows who you are, Kara and this is ...what this is about really.” He pauses and rest his hand on her shoulder. “The recruiters know that you’re Supergirl and they’re not okay with hiring you, it’s already a stretch of my authority to let you 'visit' so often. The President could decide to let you in, but she would then gain the knowledge that you’re Supergirl, the recruiter would absolutely let her in on that and any of her successor too”

This was not exactly how she expected things to go, but at least J’onn was keeping his promise to try. Kara took a moment to consider her options. “And what if I am no longer interested in aligning with the D.E.O. ? Would you hunt me down the way you did you first brought me here ?” Kara asked, a little worried that J’onn would be upset there, taking a deep breath to sooth her own nerve, _'Steel, I'm steel, I made Lena proud, Alex would be too, Steel.'_. “Could we decide to remain with the current status quo or did your asking around provoke some kind of unstoppable motion ?”

“I would not have the D.E.O. hunt you down, you’ve proven yourself enough for us to trust you with that much. It’d be similar to your cousin.” he listened to her other questions and responded as calmly and honestly he could. “I am under the impression that the current status quo is grating on the nerves of the recruiters and the president does have serious questions to ask about Kara Danvers, given your ties with Alex, so I may have kicked an hornet’s nest when I verified what was possible.”

“If I chose to join as an agent, what would happen ?” Kara asked, curious, drumming her fingers on the edge of the black desk, watching the scrambled screen stutter slowly back into its normal imagery, but not fully yet. “Do I have to go through training ? What kind of orders and mission should I expect?”

“Agent Kara Danvers would be an undercover agent, tasked with ferreting out manipulation of the media in favor of the enemies of the state and to use the media to cover or obfuscate events as to avoid mass panic in case of an emergency. Mission would likely call on you as Supergirl as usual, your life wouldn’t change much really, but you’d be in the system and we could offer some support in ways we couldn’t before.”

Kara's frown told an entire story on its own, J'onn was one of the only person who could read it, luckily. _'Steel, Kara, you're steel'_ “I will accept the post of an agent, J’onn, but you need to understand something clearly. Cover stories from the government to cover their mistakes ? I don’t like this” J’onn put a hand over her shoulders and shake his head, calming her.

“Relax Kara, I’m not about to ask you to cover a story that would stop people from surviving the explosion of the planet.” he knew and she relaxed when he said that. “I will contact President Marsdin, so you can let her know about your Identity yourself.”

With the press of a button, the screen showed Olivia Marsdin, sitting in a black office, similar decor, similar desk, similar security. “Director Henshaw, Miss Danvers.” the voice was stern, one that brook no nonsense at this moment, the President was not in a mood for a bubbly reporter and Kara noted that. “I hear that you wished to Join the D.E.O. Miss Danvers ? I have my reservation, but I was told there was something I should know before I make my decision.”

Kara stood up from the chair and looked at the president. She kept psyching herself up, much to J'onn's amusement _'Steel Kara, girl of steel'_ “You were forced to reveal yourself during the invasion and I was made privy to your Identity without your consent and while there are... problems with it, I at least owe you the courtesy of returning the favor, Miss Marsdin.”

The President looked at J’onn and then back to Kara, the look of confusion in her eyes obvious. “And what favor are you returning.” almost angry, almost a hint of fear in her voice..

Kara took a deep breath, taking off her glasses, loosening her hair and opening her shirt to reveal the suit underneath, lifting from the ground as a demonstration of who she was.

The president was stunned for a moment and tilt her head to the side. “I owe you my life and a half.”

“You do.” Kara sunk to the ground again and buttoned her shirt up _'Stay steel now, break down later'_. “I want to be an agent so the D.E.O. could actually help me in return of what I’m doing constantly.”

“Not very altruistic of you.” the tone was fairly dry there

“I literally just ended an alien invasion with my bare hands after you almost had me killed for no good reasons. Pardon me if I expect compensation for my future work. Plus I’m pretty sure I already went through my mandatory unpaid internship of two years.” Kara didn't need to psych herself up, she was pretty angry at the insinuation, setting her hand onto her hips.

“It’s not like she’d stop being Supergirl if you refused to hire her.” J’onn said calmly and shrugs his shoulder. “We asked a lot out of her over the last two years and I don’t think it’s unfair of her to request this kind of thing, I’d agree with you if she was asking for back pay for what she already did, but it’s just not the same.”

“Well, use your new agent well Director Henshaw. I would like a word with her alone, if you please.” Olivia was obviously restraining herself, her own mood sour, J’onn walked outside of the office with a little smile and shut the door, before heading to talk to the recruiter. Once they were alone, Marsdin took on her Alien form . “I understand that there might be resentment toward me, Miss Danvers ?”

“There is plenty.” she clears her throat. Ready to weather the storm there, she had a lot to get off her chest. _'Oh forget steel, I got something better.'_ “Ordering my sister to fire a weapon that targets the one ship _you know_ I’m on is bad enough. But it’s almost as if it could be convenient for you that I die in the blast.” Kara said, a dry tone borrowed from Lena. “I mean, I knew your secret, you know that if anyone, even your staunchest supporter, knew it, your presidency would be declared unconstitutional. Sending my sister to jail accomplishes that too. I’m sure you have other very convenient ways of getting rid of everyone who knows.”

Silence on the other end of the call, President Marsdin stares at the girl of steel, stares down at her feet, she is considering her reply, her responses. The silence grows uncomfortable, pressing, sweat pearls on her forehead, and Kara is still staring back. “What can we do to keep my secret between us ? It is selfish, I understand, but my stated goals of protecting earth and welcoming Aliens are genuine.”

“We trust each other.” Kara said and raise her hand. When Marsdin appears to scoff at the idea and open her mouth to speaks, Kara raise her hand. “I don’t want to hear the naive speech again, thank you very much.” she took a pause when she saw the president struggle with the very concept. “I trusted you with my Identity, I saved your life and I pushed back the invasion, you owe me your life and a half, as you said.” she shrugs. “This is how your repay me, you trust me and the people who knows.”

“What if they’re Cadmus?”

“If they were Cadmus your identity would be all over the news, Immediately, the president being an Alien is not something they would deal with on a long game.” Kara explains and nods. “We can hold a meeting between those who know and make sure of everyone’s loyalty, we can take steps to protect a secret, but I have exactly one condition.” Kara holds her finger up. “Once your first term passes, you do not run again.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” The woman looked viciously angry at the request but kept at lid on it “Consider my debt repaid. Now If you don’t mind, I think I’ve had my share of confrontational encounter today, so I will be taking my leave.” the communication ends and Kara walks out of the black room to a very un-happy J’onn who’s shaking his head, who leads her to sign the proper paperwork and receive her clearances, her access cards and her badge. “We’ll have a meeting over your little deal with the President.” he scolds.

“Necessary, bring everyone, I’ll bring Miss Grant.” J’onn grunts in frustration, rubbing his forehead. “this job is going to kill me.”

//

Kara used her new clearances to learn about the L-Corp deal and what she learns is nonsensical to her at first, the request from the Head of the US army and co-signed by the president is to get a device to detect the presence of Aliens for the purpose of detecting infiltration within high ranking position. Then she grasp the political aspect of it, after sharing this with J’onn, understanding that Olivia could hardly fight this on the tail end of an invasion, when it’s been shown that Aliens could look very human in appearances. The fear the president has of this particular device would certainly be a tip off.

So she wrote about the security concerns the people were having citing various people that had agreed to get on record. and their suggestions, Lena among them. Then, she wrote about how the current technologies being exactly what everyone feared, meaning they could not measure up to the expectation from the general populations in term of need for security

She wrote about how the currently developing technologies would and wouldn’t work. A device that detects and catalogs does not, for example help against an invasion, but having a fleet of flight-ready spaceships certainly would. Calling attention to the technologies L-Corp had designed for this kind of flight that could be focused on. Teleportation technology, recovered from the Daxamites would help with evacuation during an invasion or with transports of troops. Writing about forms of detection that would likely function as an actual defense, because as it is, most of the proposed tech appears to be tools for hunting and that violate the rights of Alien citizens.

She wrote about companies like L-Corp and their competitor could make or break the future for generations to come, alien and human alike. How earth could take the lead, make leaps forward to catch up to other civilization that could travel the stars, but that they would need to accept that people from the stars were coming to Earth to make it better too and that under the new laws and bills, they would be citizens, people with rights that could lend their knowledge.

She worked on that last part, re writing, re working the wording, struggling and losing sleep, daring to hope that Snapper and Cat wouldn’t call it a fluff piece. Hoping that Lena wouldn’t hate her for the critique of her approach, hoping that she could convince just enough people to see things differently to make a change and her heart filled with hope, she turned her article, before Snapper was even in and went to her desk to finalize a few details.

She watched as Snapper walked out of his office with a pile of paper, heading to Cat’s office and dropping it onto her desk, using her super hearing to grasp the conversation.

“Read this, Cat and then tell me what you think this is” Snapper asked looking dead serious, fidgeting with a pen in his hand, Kara could hear the clicking.

“Luke, Luke, Luke, I haven’t had my latte yet.”

“Spare me your idiosyncrasies and read it.”

Kara smirks and watches the staring contest for a moment, before the sound of pages turning appears periodically, mumbling sounds of Cat reading the paper in whispers. There was a clearing of throat from both of them as they look to each other.

“So what is that, Cat ?”

“This is a lot of things, a very engaging headline at the very least and a potential contender for the Livingston Award, if we fix the run-on sentences and the grammar.” Cat clears her throat. “Kara wrote this ?”

Kara rolled her eyes, but she struggled not to get too excited, not to get too emotional.

“Yeah, I assigned her this about two weeks ago or something, I just wanted an L-Corp piece because well, Luthor stuff sells, but she came back with a piece about national security, constitutional rights and technologies centered around companies like L-Corp.” he shrugs. “Not exactly what I asked, but damn”

Kara stopped listening by then and started to work on editing a small segment of what she had written, an ‘interview’ with Supergirl regarding these matters, one she isn’t using for her piece. Snapper calls her into his office by then and walks there with a bit of an uneasy, uncertain look.

“Ponytail, this isn’t what I asked for.” he points to the pile of paper he walked back from Cat’s office. Waiting for Kara to explain herself there, keeping his grumpy face straight.

“I investigated L-Corp and found so much information about this situation, I felt this would do a clearer portrait of the current situation. An article focusing on L-Corp wouldn’t have done the information justice, so I wrote something that used L-Corp as an example of various information put in context.”

“I don’t know how you got half of this information, I don’t know who you talked to or what you did to get some of this, Ponytail, I’m impressed. Cat is too. Ponytail, this is a piece that will make the headlines the moment our next edition is out. I don’t know when you decided to grow a spine, but keep it in place. Now get out of my office because this gets mushy.”

Kara got out of the office and smiled bright as the sun, walking over the Cat’s office, changing course when she saw that the woman was on the phone, trying to talk to some executive. Instead, she went into James’ office, finding him editing a picture on his computer. When he saw Kara enters, he noticed the smile immediately.

“Wow, you look like you’re in a good mood! What’s happening?” Making a gesture for her to sit down at his desk, he closed off a window and leaned back.

“I ... I just turned in my article I’ve been working on, Snapper and Cat are... very enthusiastic about it.” she seems ready to bounce. “I’m so happy, they said something about a Livingston Award and making headlines, It’s frankly making my head spin”

James' eyes went wide and turns his head toward Cat and Snapper having another go, in Snapper's office this time. "I'm eager to read it." 

Kara smiles and uses her phone for a moment. "Sent you the email format."

They shared a lengthy discussion about the contents and a meal, wondering about what would come next for Kara. The rest of the day passes by without incidents.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr at https://iamsuperconfused.tumblr.com/


End file.
